If the words Cassie posted on Saving Treyden at Facebook on June 7th are some of the saddest words I have ever read, these words posted yesterday are certainly some of the bravest:

June 13th
Today is one of the first times that I don’t have any words to say.. Treyden received his wings today, he was surrounded by nothing but love. Travis and I held him close and said our goodbyes. We will always be with you Treyden as you will be with us. Love you always and forever for infinity xoxo
Thank you all for your prayers and support for our entire family
Love always
Cassie, Travis and Treyden

No words? Really? What more could you possibly say, Cassie? In those few words, you said everything. In the midst of death you reaffirmed life and love.

Although so many people prayed for a miracle, there was no miracle. Or was there? I have little doubt that Treyden has received his angel wings. But what of the rest of us? We who are left behind must somehow come to terms with living in a fallen world that sometimes brings us disease, suffering and death. How are we to do this?

Two days ago I parked my ATV for a brief respite from my ride. Out of the grass came a piping plover, scuttering on her thin stick legs. She went about 10 feet when suddenly she flopped all askew and cheeped pathetically as if injured. Then she got up perfectly healthy, came over directly in front of me and flopped again. Then I understood. A ruffed grouse mother will do this too, pretend injury to lure danger away from her nest. In other words, this little mother was willing to risk her life for her little ones. Later, I took my wife for a ride and we parked there but this time a distance away. And there was our piping plover with her three little ones, watching them carefully, making sure they didn’t venture from the grass onto the lot. God has built this selfless protective instinct even into his creatures.

Human parents love their children insanely. When they are happy, we are happy. When they are in pain, we feel their pain acutely and ours as well. Like the piping plover, we are there for them, ready to risk everything for their protection. We would gladly suffer in their place. We would gladly give our lives in their place. I can think of no pain deeper or wider than the pain parents have for their children.

God blesses us with children not only to carry on in the world but to teach us about love. Not only how to love but to give us an idea, just an inkling, of how much He loves us. It is no accident that the Lord’s Prayer begins with “Our Father….” If we love our children insanely, He loves us many times that. God is love. Everything He does, He does out of love for us. Not the least of which was sending His only son to suffer and die for us. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He told us the world would send us tribulation but to take heart, because He has overcome the world. In His wisdom, suffering is part of God’s plan. St. Philip Neri once said “the cross is the gift God gives to His friends.” Or as St. Paul said, all things work together for good for those that love God.

There is so much more that could be said, but for now I’ve said enough. I would leave you with the following quote and reflection from Making Sense Out of Suffering by Peter Kreeft, the opening quote from St. Teresa:

“Everything is grace.”

What do we do about that?

Not a passive resignation. For our activity too is grace. Our struggle against suffering and every form of evil, physical and spiritual, is part of God’s will for us and part of our growing. But at the same time as we thus say no to suffering, disease, death, and diminishments, we also say yes to God’s overall plan, which includes both our efforts and their failure to fully conquer…. Resignation to God but nonresignation to the world, not fighting God but fighting the evils of the world – that is our destiny.

This is what you will find at Saving Treyden, not just the nonresignation and courage of Treyden’s parents but the prayers, support and love of thousands of others, most of them strangers like myself. Cassie and Travis may not have been able to heal their son, but they have helped in the healing of many, many others. Perhaps there was a miracle after all. God Bless you all.

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Update

I've been away for a while. Right now I hope to follow through with my original plan to post photographs of my own along with a brief spiritual message that won't take much of anyone's time. And maybe once in a while I will have something more to say. I hope it is worthwhile for you to stop by. God Bless.

There Are No Coincidences with God.

Everything we see, hear and feel is from God by His Will. Everything works to our greater good. For those with eyes to see and ears to hear, God is speaking to us all the time. Lend an ear.

Thank you for visiting. I hope to keep my posts short. The Bible would be 10,000 pages long were it not so well written. I hope I can provide a brief island of repose on your spiritual journey.

Seeds:

Everything that is, is holy.
-- Thomas Merton

Your inmost being must be renewed, and you must put on the new man.
-- Ephesians 4: 23-24

Always run toward the steep slope of the mountain of holiness, and do not be dismayed by the arduous path.
-- St. Padre Pio

The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle. Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes.
-- CCC #2015

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